Data is said to be the second most important asset of a company, next to its people. This is why company leaders and IT managers are doing their best to safeguard and protect the data. For enterprises using cloud computing services, security and privacy remain the biggest concerns. These issues are proving to be the key obstacles to the further development of cloud computing services.

Interestingly, only 60% of small enterprises are using cloud computing services. The remaining 40% is discouraged to use cloud because of security issues. According to a research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), data loss or theft is the biggest concern for companies that are not yet using cloud computing services.

To address this, the cloud service providers should seek to build trust and confidence among their customers by being completely honest about their security processes and by making it easy for their customers to perform independent assessments. The panel at the Trust in the Digital World conference held recently in Madrid shared this recommendation.

Secure but still needs improvements

While technology experts agree that cloud computing is secure in general, there are still lapses and gaps, unfortunately. There is no such thing as 100% secure according to Raul Granadino, a cyber security excellence program manager at Incibe, a Spanish national cybersecurity institute.

Meanwhile, the head of operations of European Union Agency for Network and Information Security Agency (Enisa), Steve Purser, said that cloud computing is secure enough for e-commerce. However, many things remain to be made to make cloud computing secure enough for crucial applications and critical infrastructure.

Undoubtedly, there are still many things to be made by the providers of cloud service and regulators to reassure the enterprises using cloud computing services that their data is safe and secure.

The need for better transparency

Besides security and privacy in the cloud, better transparency is also necessary especially for processes such as security audits, management of logs, and incident response, according to David Barroso, chief technology officer of Telefonica.

The panel at the conference commented that both the private and public sectors should cooperate to enhance the privacy and data safekeeping of cloud services as well as nurture trust in the providers of cloud services by being open and transparent. According to the panel, the public sector should highlight their concerns related to public safety, while the private sector should create solutions to address those issues.

Meanwhile, looking at the future of cloud computing, most members of the panel expressed their optimism that cloud services would continue to grow and evolve.

Four Cornerstone can help you

Cloud computing, storage, data management and software – these are the technology areas that you should look into to help grow your business, and Four Cornerstone can help you in all these aspects. Four Cornerstone offers Oracle consulting in Dallas. We can help you get the competencies and technologies you need to make sure you are well prepared for the cloud, software, data management, and storage. Call us now at 817-377-1144.

Photo by Stock Catalog.